William Carlos Williams The Dance

A poem exhibits the poet’s art of words. The unique integration of words make us feel and see things from a peculiar perspective. Similarly, dancers communicate different emotions of human life such as love and anger to the audience through dance performances. Interestingly, different forms of art such as poetry, dance and music all have a way of creating a connection between the audience and the presenters. Poet William Carlos Williams creates this sense of unification with the readers through his poem, “The Dance”. He creates a vivid picture of everyday human life by describing the peasants’ dance performance and thereby communicates to the readers that though we are all different, we can also be alike. He depicts the a likeness of all human …show more content…
However, Williams removes the idea of class barriers from the minds of his readers in his poem, “The Dance” and instead shows them how a peasant’s life is like theirs. He demonstrates this through his circular imagery of the peasants’ bodies. Williams says, “tipping their bellies (round as the thick sided glasses [...] their hips and their bellies off balance/ to turn them [...] swinging their butts” (5-9). He mentions round bellies, hips, and butts which are all tipping as they dance conveying the idea that the peasants are overweight. Fat bodies are often associated with wealth in certain cultures but by describing the peasants; a working class in such a way, Williams removes a social barrier and a marker of social class. He allows the reader to connect to the peasants and their lifestyle through the dance being described. Williams further removes barriers by referring to the peasants throughout the poem as “dancers” (2). For instance, he says, “the dancers go round” (2). Hence, by calling them dancers, not peasants he avoids marking their social class. This way Williams’ readers connect with the peasants, their rural life, and the festival without any societal bias in their mind. Therefore, through imagery and strategic language choice the poet removes societal barriers and uses poetry …show more content…
He uses onomatopoeia to prove common behaviour and shows how the peasants are rowdy and loud while dancing. Williams describes them as, “Kicking and rolling about/ the Fair Grounds […] under such/ rollicking measures” (8-11). Onomatopoeia is again used to depict the similarities by emphasizing on certain words. When we pronounce words like “round” we tend to open our mouths wider, this symbolizes the exaggerated and festive behaviour being displayed while the dancers dance. Often people tend to get loud and rowdy when enjoying themselves at a festival. This type of similar behaviour allows the reader to understand the joy being exhibited within the poem and to associate with and understand the peasants who are very different from them. Such similarities show how all humans celebrate life and enjoy despite all their